Kieran McGuinness, Delorento's

Day 3 Wednesday 28th

Around 5.15 I woke up to the sound of someone playing guitar in an adjoining tent, jumped into my filthy work shorts and a fresh t-shirt and headed down for a bowl of muesli and then on site. There were fires on the hills around us last night, it was both spectacular and a bit creepy to see. I was petty dehydrated when I woke, so when the water team came around i emptied their bottles.

I worked away til noon, trying not to itch my mosquito bites (on my neck) or the angry red patches (pretty much everywhere else). The sun is ruthless, if you forget to put cream anywhere it flares up in a short time and I’m beginning to break out everywhere.

After lunch a few of us went in to Gonaives, and we were shown around some of the beneficiaries’ houses. The place we visited was a settlement of corrugated iron and plank houses, built on a rubbish dump. As soon as we arrived we were surrounded by the happiest kids you ever saw, jumping and laughing and playing with my ear-rings and generally curious and excited at the big bus full of “Blancs” appearing. The houses are incredibly depressing, filthy and flimsy, build out of scraps for generally large families. We played around with kids as others had told us, took photos and danced about, but the fun and excitement of the kids hid the grim reality.

On the way home we had defeated discussions about the state of the country and some were emotional, and we were straight back onsite shovelling sand and mixing cement. My new cement mixing partner, Stephen Heffernan, (another first timer) said the thing that struck him wasn’t the houses or the poverty, it was the teenagers and young adults just standing around, with nothing to do but stand there.

Around 5pm I had to leave the site due to exhaustion and a sick stomach, and the walk back to my oven-like tent was a struggle. I couldn’t lie there with the heat, so I had a shower and found a shadey place to slump until I could function.

Eventually, after some pills, buckets of water and dinner I felt well enough to sit outside so we had a drink or two of some strong Haitian beer and played a few songs to start off the Open Mic for tonights entertainment. With the serious work being carried out onsite, and the depressing reality beyond the barbed wire fence, morale is so important for the group. My foreman, Aidan Walsh, a veteran of building projects in disadvantaged countries, summed it up pretty well; “We have a great nights, a great experience and hopefully do great work aswell.” On days like today, you’re reminded of how important that work really is.